The terms "drawer" and "drawer-like member" as interchangeably used herein in this specification and claims denote a drawer, shelf, container, etc. which is slidably mounted within a housing and wherein sliding is effected by rails, telescopic rails, rollers or other means, as known per se.
Drawers are common articles in daily life, e.g. in kitchens, children's rooms, office desks, chests of drawers, etc. and in use, they constitute a hazardous situation for user's fingers, and at times may cause unpleasant injuries, in particular when children are involved. Even more so, a child may attempt to climb or enter into an open drawer which may cause overturning of the chest of drawers or the like, which might be a fatal accident.
A variety of safety devices have been provided for drawers in order to obviate the above-mentioned dangers. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,505,526, 4,632,438, 5,626,372, 5,645,307, 5,709,517 and 5,795,044, are all directed to safety devices suitable for preventing opening of a drawer prior to manipulating a locking latch. However, disengaging the locking latch requires at times some high performance manipulation. In addition, these devices do not provide any safety in closing of a drawer.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,717,184 and 5,344,002 do provide safety both in opening and closing of a drawer and manipulating a locking latch is required. However, the safety means disclosed in these patents are of considerable sophistication and are thus expensive, less reliable owing to possible failure of mechanical components and are also expensive.
A different aspect involved with drawer-like elements is concerned with utility vehicles and the like, e.g. different types of military or terrain vehicles wherein equipment is at times stored in slidable drawer-like containers. However, such containers are likely to spontaneously open or close each time the vehicle tuns. Such spontaneous displacement may be both hazardous to personnel and may cause damage to equipment. For that purpose, some special latches and locking means are provided which, under tough conditions may be difficult to handle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel safety device for drawer-like elements in which the above-referred to disadvantages are significantly reduced or overcome.